Why I am at the Black 505 rally

The crowd making their way to Padang Merbok.Former policemen, teachers, marketing executives and housewives are in the midst of the growing crowds in the city centre for the Black 505 rally.

The Malaysian Insider spoke to several of them and this is what they had to say:

Nancy Phang, 29, marketing executive

"No jail is big enough for all the rakyat. This is my second rally after Bersih 1. I was teargassed and chased around although all we did was gather peacefully.

"I am here to fight for democracy. I'm here with my friends to protest the irregularities in GE13.

"It was not a clean and fair election, which is really all we wanted. But instead, the indelible ink was delible, we heard so many reports of vote-rigging and others.

"It is my right to be here. Let them try to arrest all of us.

Hashim Said, 64, former policeman from Pahang

"I just want to see a change in my country. I want the voices of all to be heard, to be given a fair platform for all parties to be heard when it comes to matters of the country's administration.

"We are not against the government, we just want them to hear our grouses.

"As long as I'm alive, I will join rallies if it is for the betterment of the country and our future generations."

Hashim also said that from his experience as a policeman, he had seen abuse of power, "government agencies being controlled according to 'political palate'.

"What people need is freedom and equal rights. Change of system must must be adopted."

Yugi, 29, a private tutor from KL

" Democracy is not being practiced to its fullest. We elected the government and they should protect us because we are just ordinary civilians who want the best for our country. And this is why we keep joining rallies."

Krishnan, retiree

A senior citizen, who only wants to be known as Krishnan, said he is attending the rally with his wife because he was disappointed with the way the recent elections went..

"The EC has had years of experience and it has no excuse for such shoddy work.

"There were a lot of inconsistencies and the EC gave ridiculous excuses for them. They were questioning our intelligence.

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